ther we went to the grave of the father and mother, and the
place where the home had been, and for a long time he was silent, as
though they who slept beneath the sod were his, and not another's; but
at last he said:

"'And what will you do? I don't quite know where he is, though; when
last I heard from him and his comrades, they were in the Pipi Valley.'

"My heart was full of joy; for though I saw how touched he was because
of what he saw, it was all common to my sight, and I had grieved much,
but had had little delight; and I said:

"'There's only one thing to be done. He cannot come back here, and
I must go to him--that is,' said I, 'if you think he cares for me
still,--for my heart quakes at the thought that he might have changed.'

"'I know his heart,' said he, 'and you'll find him, I doubt not, the
same, though he buried you long ago in a lonely tomb,--the tomb of a
sweet remembrance, where the flowers are everlastin'.' Then after more
words he offered me money with which to go; but I said to him that the
love that couldn't carry itself across the sea by the strength of the
hands and the sweat of the brow was no love at all; and that the harder
was the road to him the gladder I'd be, so that it didn't keep me too
long, and brought me to him at last.

"He looked me up and down very earnestly for a minute, and then he
said: 'What is there under the roof of heaven like the love of an honest
woman! It makes the world worth livin' in.'

"'Yes,' said I, 'when love has hope, and a place to lay its head.'

"'Take this,' said he--and he drew from his pocket his watch--'and
carry it to him with the regard of Duke Lawless, and this for
yourself'--fetching from his pocket a revolver and putting it into my
hands; 'for the prairies are but rough places after all, and it's better
to be safe than--worried.... Never fear though but the prairies will
bring back the finest of blooms to your cheek, if fair enough it is
now, and flush his eye with pride of you; and God be with you both, if
a sinner may say that, and breakin' no saint's prerogative.' And he
mounted to ride away, havin' shaken my hand like a brother; but he
turned again before he went, and said: 'Tell him and his comrades that
I'll shoulder my gun and join them before the world is a year older, if
I can. For that land is God's land, and its people are my people, and I
care not who knows it, whatever here I be.'

"I worked my way across the sea, and stayed awhil